Community Ventures to use SIP construction for local homes

On Tues., April 9, Community Ventures (CV) together with state, city, and county leaders held a press conference to announce and demonstrate the construction of two new, structured insulated panel (SIP) homes in Fulton on Fourth Street.

The home’s walls and center roof beam were completed at 409 Fourth St. April 8 within eight hours.

SIP technology is fast-tracking the construction of these high-quality, affordable, and energy-efficient homes.

This project is made possible by a funding awarded to Community Ventures from the Rural Housing Trust Fund (RHTF), which is administered by the Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC).

The RHTF dollars originate from State Aid Funding for Emergencies (SAFE) allocated by the General Assembly to aid disaster-impacted communities in Eastern and Western Kentucky to help rebuild and repair homes.

In October 2023, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced the first round of Rural Housing Trust Fund (RHTF) Awards, which were to build 115 new homes in disaster-impacted counties and repair 45 homes for disaster survivors in Eastern and Western Kentucky.

The $13.5 million was awarded to nine nonprofit housing agencies that are helping Kentuckians recover from the 2021 tornadoes that struck Western Kentucky and the 2022 flooding that impacted Eastern Kentucky.

Among the recipients was Community Ventures Corp., with the award to serve Fulton and Graves Counties, in the amount of $2,596,322.

That $13.5 million was just the first round of rebuilding efforts from the fund.

The RHTF was created in March 2023 when the Governor and lawmakers agreed during the last legislative session to allocate $20 million in State Aid Funding for Emergencies (SAFE) – $10 million to the East and $10 million to the West – to aid disaster-impacted communities to help rebuild and repair homes. The legislation placed administrative responsibilities within the Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC) and mandated the creation of an RHTF Advisory Committee.

This first round of funding focused on home repair, recovery and reconstruction to help existing owners impacted by disasters and single-family homebuyer development to bring new homes to disaster-impacted markets.

Among those participating in the Tuesday press conference were Brenda Weaver, Community Ventures, President of Lending and WKY Disaster Recovery; Mark Welch, Fulton-Hickman Counties Economic Partnership President; Jim Martin, Fulton County Judge/Executive; Mike Gunn, Fulton City Manager; and Eric Couts, Master SIP Builder, Owner of Premier Homes of NWMO LLC.